


Forgot to Love You

by BluBoo0003 (BluBooThalassophile)



Series: Thousand Different Life Times I'd Pick You... [3]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU, Lucifer (TV), Teen Titans - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst and Humor, Drama & Romance, F/M, Family Drama, Misunderstandings, Secret Marriage
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-28
Updated: 2019-10-30
Packaged: 2021-01-05 13:50:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 3
Words: 18,171
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21209576
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BluBooThalassophile/pseuds/BluBoo0003
Summary: Weddings are supposed to be one of the most memorable moments in life, however theirs is a three day blur hidden in a drunken haze. She left him a note, the ring and divorce papers before she ran off. He never filed the divorce papers, and has spent five years trying to get the courage to contact her again. But now they're here, and they might need to have a chat, as wife and ex-husband.





	1. The Wife and Ex-Husband

Jason supposed there were a great many ironies in life, because that was part of life, however this, this was true irony as she stood there across from him. There was a sniffer in her hands, that she was cleaning, and her violet eyes were wide with shock as she stared at him. She stole his breath away, even all these years later.

Her long black hair was braided in complicated styles, braids of braids, with a few stray wisps of hair were fluttering around her face. Her eyes were that beautiful dark violet eyes with those thick lashes stared at him with nothing but shock. Plump lips, her upper fuller than the bottom, sharp cheek bones, squared jaw, with an aristocratic nose. The mesh of features and heritage, then with her ivory pale skin. She was beautiful, ethereal even, in all the years without seeing her and she was still the loveliest creature he had ever seen.

It had been about five years since she had left.

Left him nothing but a note, a ring, with the divorce papers and the memories. The best month and a half of his life had been spent with her, after the worst thing that could happen to him did.

Somehow, either by fluke or intention though he was still her medical contact, and visa versa, husband and wife privileges and all and that had given him a link to her. A small, fragile link which he didn’t know how to break or touch, because he couldn’t sign the divorce papers, or file them.

She had given him all the power, and for the first time since she had left all the power in his hands they were staring at each other. With nothing but a bar between them.

“Ah! Raven,” the suave voice called out, and her head ripped away from him as she turned to address the own of the club. Lucifer Morningstar, owner of the club LUX, and the man whom Jason was meeting because of his brother’s bachelor party.

“Uncle!” she smiled in greeting of the man.

“My darling, Maze is out tonight, so might you assist with the bouncer duties and leave the bar to me,” he purred.

“Of course!” she smiled as she set the glass aside, Lucifer hopped over the bar effortlessly, pecked her on the cheek. She walked out from behind the bar, and he could only stare dumbly after her.

“Drink?” the suave voice asked.

“Yeah,” he nodded. “Bourbon,” he said as he twisted around to watch her. She was wearing a skimpy little red number, which showed off her long, curvy legs, strong thighs, highlighting her ass with each step. He could never forget how great her ass and legs looked; he had dreams about them still.

“Here you go,” Lucifer said handing over the sniffer. He took it absently, never taking his eyes off Raven. There was a fight brewing already, and he watched her saunter towards it. “Admiring the view?” the voice asked dryly.

“About to enjoy the show more,” he smiled over his shoulder at Lucifer then.

“Oh?”

“She’s about to break them,” he giddily remembered. He’d had a barfight or two with Raven, she could decimate people, her small size was not to be underestimated. Sure enough, quick as a whip she had two men on their knees and blocking blows from the third as she hit his body hard.

“You seem acquainted with my niece, and how did that come about?” Lucifer asked leaning on the bar as they watched the slaughtering happening. “NOT THE GOOD STUFF!” Lucifer shouted over the music when a bottle was grabbed by one of the men.

“That’s my wife,” Jason announced proudly just as Raven took the bottle and slammed her knee into the man’s groin, dropping him. She smiled as she served the drinks and two burly men appeared to take the groaning heap of idiots off with them.

“HER WHAT!?” Lucifer bellowed as he took a sip of bourbon.

He didn’t get to respond to that as he put his drink aside and walked towards her. She was tiny, still, he noted that she was a good foot shorter than him, and the heels she was wearing didn’t add to her height. Not really. She was slight, like a ballerina, gracefully and classy. She kind of reminded him of Aubrey Hepburn, stunning.

He stopped right before her, and he couldn’t hear the club, or feel the music vibrating through the air, or even hear the people in the crowd. He only stared at her, her beautiful stunned expression.

Last, he had heard of her was the shark attack, two years ago when he had gotten a call from the hospital in Sydney, Australia, saying she was there. He’d gotten there and she was gone, already discharging herself, rejecting pain medication, and only had stitches. He was forever grateful that being her husband had gotten him that information. And he wondered if she knew he was her contact for emergencies; probably not.

“Hey little bird,” he smiled. She was wearing that necklace he had gotten her in New Zealand.

“Hello Jason,” she said softly. She didn’t look away, and he wondered if he could kiss her. Probably a terrible idea, but damnit. He’d missed her, he had honest to God missed her. Which was odd, because he still had her number in his phone. However, in the past five years of his marriage, he didn’t know what to say or do to go about mending the fences with Raven or even reaching out for her. She was always this independent woman, and he knew, from her note, that even if she hadn’t said anything, somehow she had been hurt by him. He didn’t know what he did wrong or where it went wrong; not really, her note was sort of vague, and that’s why he found it hard to think about reaching out.

Five years of thinking though, and he wanted this to change. But he had never known what to do to make that change happen.

Now she was here and he wasn’t wasting the opportunity.

“Can we talk?” he asked her.

“Yes, let me grab a coat, and tell my uncle,” she said. He nodded as he watched her walk by.

* * *

She didn’t know what to think, he had walked into her uncle’s club, and until he was standing right before her, she hadn’t even notice him. He looked great; five years had not dimmed his beauty. Jason Todd, ex-husband, was handsome as a fallen angel; a mop of curly black hair with red undertones in it, a lone white streak of hair which was actually natural and not dyed, aquamarine eyes, square jaw, crooked, blunt nose, dash of freckles, highbrow, and squared cheeks. There were a few new nicks and scars around his face she didn’t remember being there, a nick on his lip from when she had split it. His large, broad frame was still all muscle, even in that leather jacket, and button-down shirt, she knew those muscles. The man looked like a beautiful sin, temptation personified, she’d happily sit there like an idiot and stare at him if her uncle hadn’t broken the spell between them.

Good God he looked amazing, and as stunned to see her as she was to see him.

It’d been five years, at least, since she had left him with the divorce papers and that ring, along with a note.

Now she grabbed her coat, shot her uncle and apologetic look and walked after Jason outside of the rowdy atmosphere of LUX.

“I… I didn’t know you were here,” he said awkwardly as he rubbed the back of his neck.

“Not for long,” she dismissed. She had come to LA for her step-brother’s wedding, and staying with her uncle had been a welcomed reprieve from wedding madness. “What about you?” she asked.

Jason Todd, aside from being her ex-husband; was the son of a multibillionaire, and ran a multibillion dollar industry; Wayne Enterprises. And though she knew her ex had a preference for working with his hands, and doing manual labor, he was a very smart man, and in line with his younger brother; Timothy Drake-Wayne; to run the company. Raven kind of kept tabs on her ex through the tabloids; she felt it to be the best connection despite having his number in her phone.

“Brother’s bachelor party tonight, but I’m in town on business and holiday of sorts,” he answered.

“My brother’s getting married too,” Raven chuckled.

“Really?”

“Yeah, he and his partner have turned into bridezillas though, and I’m eternally thankful my uncle is letting me stay with him,” Raven admitted.

“Lucifer Morningstar is your uncle?”

“Yeah,” she nodded.

“Awesome,” he grimaced then. “What have you been up too? Other than getting mauled by a shark?” he asked.

“How’d you know about that!?” she sputtered.

“Hospital contacted me,” he omitted reluctantly.

“Damn it!” she hissed. “I thought I had changed all my papers, and contact info.”

“I have you on my insurance, so I covered it.”

“Well that explains a lot,” she sighed. “I’m sorry about that, I didn’t… I thought I had changed all my papers, and I didn’t mean to bother you.”

“Whoa, we’re… we’re still friends, I… I want to know when you get into trouble or need help. And did that hurt?” he asked.

“Well, I bet it’s still annoying to have contact with your ex-wife, and no, it didn’t, not really. See,” she paused under a streetlight as she revealed the crescent scar on her left thigh, it was ragged and deep, and the shark could’ve taken a good chunk of her leg, but she’d been lucky. It was a bite test, and the shark swam off when she’d stabbed it with the diving knife she always carried. Jason had gotten her that knife as a wedding joke gift. “Your knife saved my life, so I owe it to you. Shark bit me, I stabbed it when it was dragging me off my board, Garth saved me, pulled me out of the water and to shore, we got to the hospital and all I needed was stitches. Seventy-three of them, but I was lucky. Shark missed my artery by a millimeter, and I got three teeth out of it,” she informed him. His fingers hesitantly reached over and she tensed as he touched them.

His touch was still electric, she fought of shuddering at his touch or letting her breath hitch, though she felt her heart ramming in her chest painfully. She was acutely aware that the attraction hadn’t died.

“I’m glad you’re alright.”

“PT was a bitch,” she informed him as she dropped her dress a bit, he straightened up.

“Still surfing?” he asked.

“Obviously, Garth and I are planning a trip with his wife Dolphin, after the wedding,” she said. He was smiling softly at her as they walked. “

“I… It’s great to see you,” he said.

“I’m surprised, but it’s great to see you too,” she smiled a bit. Honestly she was always happy to see him, it annoyed her; especially when he appeared on the news or tabloids. “I’m glad we’re not like other divorcees who can’t stand each other.”

“About that, why’d you leave?” he asked.

“Seriously?” she blinked.

“Yes.”

“We were drunk when we got married, on a ship, we can’t even remember the actual ceremony or that weekend, but we had the marriage license with witnesses; though I have no idea who Edward Bloomberg or John Constantine are, but they saw us tie the knot. And I… I saw her, Jason,” she admitted. “I saw Donna Troy and you, and I don’t know, it occurred to me that you and I were merely a vacation mix up, like idiots getting hitch in Atlantic City or Vegas, and you and I hadn’t come to a decision and it was time I returned to reality, so I got the papers before you could regret this.”

“And you didn’t think to talk about this?” he asked.

“No, because I had a family emergency and there wasn’t time. I kept meaning to call you, but,” she gestured in frustration.

“Shit happens,” he nodded.

“Exactly. Besides, once I got stateside again and saw who you were, I knew made the right decision. I don’t want you to think we… at least I didn’t, you know, want you for your money.”

“I never thought that,” he pointed out, shoving his hands in his pockets as they walked.

“I’m poor, compared to you, and I know everyone would think I was a gold digger, so breaking the marriage before lawyers came into it to drag us through hell, and ruin our relationship, over money, didn’t seem fair,” she shrugged. “Besides, it’s not like it’d have worked once we came back to reality.”

“Why not?”

“You love your family and what you do, I remember our talks about that, and I couldn’t do that to you,” she shrugged.

“How’d you know about Donna?” he asked. She stopped, blinking rapidly as she stared at him in the city’s light.

“I saw you kissing in the hotel lobby when I was coming to tell you I needed to go home,” she admitted.

“You…?” he paled rapidly then and looked almost sick.

“Hey, it’s not a big deal, when I got stateside and read about you and her, I knew I made the right call, and I couldn’t be upset about it. There’s a lot of history with you and her, and I was the vacation mistake. It’s okay, I’m not hurt or mad about it,” she lied.

“But that doesn’t explain why you ran off,” he shook his head.

“My mom died, I had used everything I had to get a flight home to say goodbye,” she answered softly. “While I arranged my flight, I got the divorce papers, filled them out, and I left as quickly as I could.”

“I’m sorry about your mom, I didn’t know,” he said softly.

“It’s alright, she’s in a better place now,” she said firmly. She was in a place her father couldn’t hurt her, and she was no longer in pain; that’s all that mattered to her now. Though five years ago that had been a different story.

“What happened to her?”

“My biological father, Lucifer’s half-brother, killed her. The way my dad tells it, and evidence supports this, is mom was walking home, he snatched her, and tortured her, in my mom’s home. My dad came home to her near death, called 9-1-1, and she was in the ICU, I came home. My uncle’s wife, Mazikeen actually killed my biological father when he attempted to snatch me,” Raven informed him.

“I… I’d have come,” he said.

“It’s okay, I didn’t want to drag you into my craziness,” she shrugged.

“Rae, that’s,” he sighed as he shook his head. “Marriage is a partnership, and I’d have come because we are friends. You were a friend when I needed it most and had none.”

“I know, and I can honestly say the same for you. But at the time, it never even crossed my mind. Plus I figured you were getting back with Donna at the time, and by the time I got everything sorted out I didn’t even know how to reach out to you,” she admitted.

“I’m here now,” he pointed out.

“You are,” she agreed.

“We should…”

“Raven! There you are! I’ve been looking for you everywhere! You have to come save me!” Raven turned in time to see Rose running towards her. Her step-sister caught her waist, skidding around to stand in front of Raven so they were almost nose to nose. “I swear to God if you do not come right now I will kill Joe and Dad!”

“I have to get back to LUX!” she protested.

“Hell no! Luci already agreed you must help!” Rose snapped.

“Rose!” she whined.

“No! Hot guys later! Hi, I’m Rose, Raven’s sister, I’m abducting her now, so give her your number so we can go! Though I wouldn’t hold my breath if I were you, she’s a prudish virgin still!” Rose said.

“ROSE!” Raven squawked. “I am not a prude or a virgin!” she shrieked.

“Doesn’t matter! Come on!” Rose grabbed her arm and started dragging her towards LUX.

“It was nice seeing you Jason!” Raven shouted as she was dragged away from her ex-husband by her sister. She could barely keep up with Rose as she stumbled after her, she didn’t miss Jason’s bemused, and baffled expression as she was dragged off.

“I swear Kyd and Joe are going to kill me! We need you before we kill them,” Rose said. “He was hot, who was he?”

“He was an old friend Rose,” Raven chuckled as they got to Rose’s 1964 Ford Mustang.

“He knows you’re a total prude and he’s never getting any, right? You’re not leading him on like Garfield,” Rose asked.

“I was never leading Gar on, incase you forgot. He only had me to get to you,” Raven pointed out.

“Besides the point,” Rose dismissed.

“He knows me well enough, Rose.” Raven didn’t inform her sister that Jason Todd had taken her virginity, turned her into a lustful, sex crazed woman; who only wanted him, and if Rose hadn’t interrupted, that Raven was likely going to invite him up to her room, in Lucifer’s hotel, and let him screw her brains out until she couldn’t walk right or talk above a whisper; again. The man had introduced her to sex, no other man she had dated came close to being as enticing to her as Jason had; Jason had set impossibly high standards which she feared no one would be able to fulfill for her and her needs.

“Shame,” Rose decided. “You should let him pop your cherry, before you’re a true spinster.”

“Focus on driving, I don’t want to die in a twisted heap of metal!” she grimaced as she clung to her seat while Rose sped down the street.

* * *

Jason watched his wife getting dragged off by her sister and he realized how little he knew about his wife. She had an uncle, Lucifer Morningstar, who was married to a Mazikeen, her mother had been murdered by her biological father, and she had a stepfather (he was guessing on that one), plus a sister and a brother. He knew her best friend’s name was Garth; remembering her mentioning it a lot when he’d been with her. But he didn’t know much about her life.

It unnerved him.

Her reasons for leaving were justified, and rationalized, her reasons for leaving the divorce papers were reasonable. Hell, she had even promised to change her emergency contact; which unnerved him greatly. Raven had done her best to erase herself from his life, because she understandably thought she was a mistake in his life.

He despised that realization.

“Yo! Jay! Where’d you go?” a voice bellowed, he turned in time to see Dick, Wally, Kyle, and Tim staggering towards him.

“I ran into an old friend,” he answered levelly.

“OOOO! Keeping secrets from us! Spill!” Dick squealed.

“It’s not a secret, it’s none of your business. Also, you’re drunk, time to get back to the hotel before Kori kills us all,” he decided. Calling an Uber he waited, while corralling a drunk Dick and Wally, who had decided they wanted to sing carols to by passers, and Kyle tried to kiss him while he propped up Tim; who was sound asleep now.

Once he had them loaded into the Uber, who was taking them to the hotel to be greeted by Barbara Gordon and Kori And’r, he walked back to LUX. Jason barely made it through the door before he was grabbed by the owner and shoved into an elevator, a small woman appeared, her dark eyes bright with protective fury as the pair glared at him.

“Who the hell are you and what the hell do you mean you’re my niece’s husband!?” Lucifer growled as the elevator doors slid shut.

“My name is Jason Todd,” he started.

“We know that!” the woman snarled.

“I met Raven five years ago in New Zealand, we got drunk, ended up married after a weekend neither of us remember, then shit happened, she came home, and I did, we went our separate ways and I haven’t seen her until today!” he avowed as he tried not to get nervous. The woman, whom he was assuming to be Mazikeen, was glaring at him like she might eviscerate him, while Lucifer looked ready to tear him limb from limb.

“Raven said she had an ex,” Mazikeen growled.

“I haven’t filed the divorce,” he retorted.

“Does she know?” Lucifer demanded.

“I was trying to tell her tonight!” he defended. “Last I heard of her, not from her, of her, was she was in the hospital after a shark attack. By the time I got to Sydney she was gone.”

“So you’re the mysterious benefactor for covering her hospital bill,” Lucifer relaxed a little then.

“I have her covered under my insurance,” he said.

“What do you want with her?” Mazikeen growled.

“Honestly?” he sputtered.

“Excuse us, Mr. Todd, we are protective of our only niece, she’s been through more than most, and her family is just as protective, be glad it was us, and not her father who discovered you, we at least had pertinent questions to ask,” Lucifer quipped as they walked out of the elevator. Jason hesitantly followed after them. Mazikeen continued glaring at him, he saw a knife in her fingers.

“Look, I’m not here to cause problems, and I’m not even here for Raven,” he promised. “I didn’t know she’d be here. When she left, she left a note asking me to give her space, and I have. I didn’t mean to run into her here, though I am happy I did, but I’m here because my brother’s bachelor party was here tonight. No other reason. I didn’t even know she was your niece until tonight.”

“You didn’t discuss that with her when you got married?” Lucifer inquired.

“We were together for a month, and we got married drunk off our asses, and while we talked family, it was vague, like ‘my mom’ or ‘my dad’, we didn’t bring up our lives,” he defended.

“That seems monumentally stupid to me,” Mazikeen growled.

“Probably,” he agreed. Especially after he learned that Raven only learned who he really was after she returned stateside.

“So what are you going to do about this?” Mazikeen demanded. “File the papers finally?” she asked it almost hopeful.

“No, I’m going to try to talk to my wife, and unlike last time, work this out like adults,” he said.

“Seems to me as if she’s handled all of it,” Lucifer stated.

“Well, I didn’t get a say. I came back to an empty hotel room, with a neatly written note, and a stack of divorce papers with the ring resting atop all that. I didn’t get to talk to my wife about a decision which would involve both of us,” he stated. “And for five years, I will admit that I’ve chickened out on contacting her, for many reasons. So now that I’ve talked to her, we will sort this out, like adults,” he decided.

“And if she doesn’t want that?”

“I’m more than happy to step back and let her pursue her happiness elsewhere,” he avowed. “But I want a shot with my wife.”

“You intend to court her?” Lucifer deduced.

“I’d like to try it, properly.”

“You sleep with her and I will castrate you and nail you dick on our doorframe,” Mazikeen warned.

“Look, none of this is your business,” he decided.

“It is though, she’s my niece, I raised her with Mazikeen for four years, I protected her, I raised her, she is more than a niece to me, she is like our daughter,” Lucifer snapped. “And I will investigate this as thoroughly and invasively as I feel fit, seeing as how you are the son of America’s darling playboy. I will not let you harm her!”

Jason just sighed. “Fine, but I get to talk to my wife at my own pace without you butting in. She and I have many things to discuss.”

“Very well, but harm her, and Mazikeen will hide your body so well no one will ever find it.”

Jason just nodded as he walked out of the penthouse, wondering how the hell this happened to him. Also, he needed to text his wife and ask her to coffee so they could discuss the fact they were not exes, and were still legally married. Drunken mistake or not.


	2. Not Ex-Husband

Raven survived the rest of her night by the skin of her teeth, which was why she felt so utterly exhausted walking into her hotel room, peeling off her painful heels, and undoing her complicated Viking braids. Dolphin had had a lot of fun with Raven’s hair earlier today and she had just left her friend’s work in place. Gingerly peeling off the loose, soft, skimpy red dress she dropped it to the floor as she walked for her bed, collapsing on it.

Right now she was just immensely happy she hadn’t taken up her uncle’s offer on taking the guest room in his penthouse, she just wanted peace.

Rolling over she stared at the ceiling, pulling her covers up to her chin as she thought about tonight. Specifically her ex-husband was on her mind, it hadn’t been long ago when he had been on her mind last time.

_‘So what’s a girl like you doing in a place like this?’ he had chuckled, pressing his glass to his bruised cheek._

_‘Probably the same thing a place like this is doing in a guy like you,’ she mused._

_‘Ooo! A Deadpool fan!’ he mused._

_‘Obviously,’ she had laughed gesturing to her shirt; the crude drawing of Deadpool shooting Francis while screaming ‘Where’s Francis!?’_

_‘Well, love, it’s a pleasure to meet you,’ he offered his hand._

_‘Raven,’ she had said as she shook his hand. His lips brushed her bruised and bloodied knuckles._

_‘Jason,’ he smiled with his split lip. He was devilishly handsome._

It was only later, she thought bitterly, that she learned he was there trying to get over a heartbreak. His fiancée; Donna; had run off with his best man; Roy Harper, and Raven had watched it on the media. From the safety of her family ranch in New Mexico while she plotted out her next moves.

She had gone to Hawaii to study humpback whales with Garth. She had stayed with the Curry family for two years, and in that time she had mastered surfing, gotten over her heartbreak, lived on a boat, went swimming in the reefs, learned to snorkel, and scuba dive, and got to survive loosing her mom. Lucifer and Maze had been most sympathetic to her plight, but they didn’t know the whole story. Only that she had met a guy in New Zealand, fallen hard and fast for him and it was all a mistake. She had never told them she married the guy, or that she had married him in a drunken haze that she couldn’t remember.

Everyday since she had left was a struggle not to call Jason, not to turn around and go back to ruin his life. Raven couldn’t do that to the man, he was just too good for her. He didn’t even know how good he was, and that was what made it all the more painful in her mind. He didn’t know what she was capable of, or what she’d do, he didn’t know how far she could go to survive or how horrible she could truly be. They were friends, people who just clicked together like old friends, and it had worked. Jason had made her happy, and she knew she’d ruin him if she stayed. She ruined everything afterall.

Her phone buzzed which had her picking it up as she fought her heavy eyes and stared at the simple text from Jason.

**-Can we grab some coffee tomorrow? We need to talk.**

Simple, neat, to the point. He was always to the point. Raven looked at the clock, wincing at the time then she looked at the text again.

**-Can’t do coffee in the morning, how about lunch?**

She kicked herself for offering to spend more time with him, after all she was his vacation mistake.

**-Sure, still like Thai?**

**-Yes.**

**-I got a place, want me to get you?**

**-Sure. I’m staying at LUX.**

**-I’ll txt before I come**

**-ok. Nite.**

She dropped her phone before rolling over and staring out her window at the lights of LA. She had no idea why she was doing this. He was the ex-husband! They had parted, on good terms even. Though she supposed he had more questions for her because she had just left him with three things before she had run off.

Closing her eyes she saw that moment when she knew this was all a huge vacation mistake.

She had come rushing down to the lobby on the phone, negotiating with the airlines to get back to Colorado; Durango, where her mom was hospitalized. It had taken her an over a day, with multiple airlines, and her uncle fast tracking her money and getting her shortcuts, to get back stateside. Raven had jogged into the lobby to see him with a woman who looked like a gorgeous model.

The other woman; who she would later learn was Donna Troy, Princess of Greece, sister to the Queen; Diana Prince; was tall, almost as tall as Jason was, long curly black hair, and features of a Greek Goddess. Raven wanted to punch the woman in her stupid face, but knew she couldn’t, especially when the woman grabbed Jason, spun him to her and kissed him. Raven had bolted at that sight; because she knew she couldn’t handle that and she ran for a lawyer. Drawing up the divorce was quick and simple, because she and Jason had shared nothing and nothing was in each other’s name, she also laughed it off as a drunk mistake.

Once all that was taken care of, she had gone to her hotel, he wasn’t there, so she packed up. Leaving him with a brief note, the papers, and the ring she grabbed her bags and ran for the airport with her passport in hand. She had made it to her gate, barely, had her stuff mailed to her and made it to the States in the span of twenty-seven hours. Literally forty hours after she’d gotten the call from her aunt that her mom was in the hospital and her stepfather didn’t think her mom had much time.

~~~*~*~*~~~

Jason stood in his hotel, staring out at the city, smiling a bit at the text Raven had sent him saying night, and slipped it into his pocket.

He had never told anyone, but his grandfather, Alfred, that Raven leaving him had royally pissed him off. And even then, he wasn’t mad at her, he was mad with himself. Raven was, hands down, the best damn thing to ever happen to him at the second worst point in his entire life.

The day he was supposed to get married to Donna Troy, his childhood sweetheart, and first love, she runs into the room he was getting ready and demanded to know how he felt about her. Not the best timing, he got it, but him not giving her an immediate answer had her blurting out everything she felt. They’d been together for so long, even when they had both had wild affairs, or been broken up, that they just landed back together because it’s what everyone expected of them. They were expected of everyone, from around the world, and Donna said that she was tired of it. She wanted to know what they wanted, just them and not what the world wanted of them. Jason didn’t have an answer for that, because he had honestly never thought about it.

Donna Troy was his endgame.

Always had been.

When he was a PJ, when he was Bruce Wayne’s billionaire screw up, when he was the punk teenager, he had never thought about it. Donna Troy was just there, and they were the endgame for each other. Or so he had thought.

She had, in her frustrations and fury, blurted out that she’d been having an affair with his best friend; Roy Harper, for years, and that’s when he had started in on her. The only times he had ever dated anyone else or slept with anyone else was when he was certain they were not together. They both lost their tempers, she ran from the church in her wedding gown, with Roy in hand, and the media had exploded with it.

Jason, in his spiteful fury towards his family and fiancée had taken the honeymoon tickets and taken the trip. Two weeks into his running away attempt he had withdrawn a shit ton of cash, ditched his credit cards, and his former cellphone, taken his private passport, and left with nothing but his go-bag from France, and made his way to Australia. Somehow, and he still wasn’t entirely sure about how, he had landed in New Zealand, and the first night there; in some hole in the wall, divvy pub he had met Raven Rachel Roth.

She was in New Zealand, finishing her exchange program, studying to be a Marine Biologist to work with her best friend; Garth Curry; who was studying orca hunting patterns in New Zealand at the time. She loved to read; probably more than he did, which was a true feat in his mind; she adored New York pizza, rooted for the New York Mets, believed in Magic, loved dogs, and animals as a whole, wanted to help people, and was probably a bigger tea lover than Alfred. He thought her to be the most mesmerizing person he had ever met. She was beautiful, quiet, commanding and classy. She was classy as fuck when she was cursing like a sailor after kicking ass; she might be a pacifist, but she knew how to kick ass when the time called for it.

He found her to be the most interesting person he had ever met, though she was eerily quiet and gentle.

He didn’t know what it was about Raven, but they just clicked, it was like he had known her all his life with how they were. Which was the only reason when he had woken up with a naked Raven in his arms, and a marriage certificate he didn’t remember getting, that he didn’t freak out. While she finished her program, he sorted out his shit, picking up an odd job or two repairing boats, cars, and even a few planes. Raven hadn’t let him move in with her, her dorm was occupied by messy roommates, so he had let her live in his hotel room. He had been contemplating getting a flat so they could stay together and sort their shit out.

Though that all changed in the span of a day.

He’d been walking for his hotel when Donna had materialized in front of him. He had been texting Raven about dinner plans, intending to talk to her about their marriage and the next thing they should do. Her program was coming to a close, and he knew she had family stateside. He wanted her to meet his family, and he wondered if she wanted him to meet hers; she had talked animatedly about them, but also vaguely.

Donna was just standing there, dressed in cream, looking like a classic Greek goddess; not a single curl out of place as her dark eyes assessed him carefully for hints. He didn’t know what to think, brushing her off to try to escape, when she had pleaded to talk with him. Apparently, his family was freaking out because no one could find him, and she had hired a PI to track him down. Jason thought they were all being over dramatic, he was royally pissed, and hurt, and had every damn right to feel that way. Also humiliated, greatly humiliated.

But this was Donna and they were Donna and Jason so he couldn’t blow her off like he wanted to do. However, he would do anything to keep the Princess of Greece away from the woman he loved, because he did not need Donna to attack Raven. He knew she’d do it, Donna had done it to all his other exes in the past; Kara, Isabel, Artemis, Violet, so he wanted her as far away from Raven as he could get her. He’d been shocked when Donna had casually pulled him into a kiss; like muscle memory, but he didn’t kiss her back. Instead he had pushed her away and told her very firmly they weren’t do that again; ever, and if she thought differently, he’d happily escort her to the Greek Embassy and walk away. Jason had no problem walking away from her without talking to her, he had zero problems with it.

Instead they had walked, walked to a different, far more upscale hotel where his father was waiting for him with two of his siblings, and Alfred. Jason wanted to be pissed, he did, especially when he saw Roy, but he couldn’t find it in him to be pissed. He had Raven, and that didn’t make the world better, but it made him alright.

It had taken over a day of interrogation before his family was satisfied, he hadn’t been abducted, but they wanted to meet Raven. By the time he had finally gotten them to come around to the idea that he had made a friend who was not in the service with him, or someone they knew, and got them to want to meet her, she was gone. Hotel concierge had told him she had run out of here with her bags in a hurry for the airport, and that she looked panicked.

Jason had rushed up to their room to find nothing but the divorce papers, a note and the gaudy ring he had gotten her when he was drunk.

He had never felt so terrified as then, she was gone. Like she had never been there. All her things were packed and gone, not a stray piece of clothing or even the socks she’d stuff in between the couch cushions, a hoodie of his was also gone, and he didn’t know if she had done that intentionally or not. But whatever had called her off must’ve been important, because she’d have never left her program without reason. All he had was a note, the divorce papers, and that gaudy ring.

She had laughed at the ring, endlessly laughing and wore it on a chain around her neck, not on her finger; it was too big for her slim hands in her mind. Though she wore thousands of slim rings on her fingers, but not that one. That one was always worn around her neck on a chain. He hadn’t signed the divorce papers, he couldn’t, he didn’t know what went wrong with them to make her actually get them. The papers were straightforward, they had shared no assets, or joined households; they had been two independent people bound by a Catholic Captain; Daniel Cassidy, on a ship for whale watching, into the holy sacrament of marriage. Jason’s mom would’ve skinned him alive if she knew he had the divorce papers; as his mom had been Catholic and didn’t believe in divorce. That’s part of how he had become Bruce Wayne’s son actually.

But she was gone.

Her note was simple, straight to the point, and blunt.

_Dear Jason,_

_Something’s come up, I must go, right now. I’m sorry. I don’t know what to do, but I feel this is for the best, it was a delight meeting you and I will always consider you my dearest of friends. But our time has come to an end, and I’m sorry. I wish you all the best. I’ll let you go, so I think it’s best you let me go._

_Forever, with Love,_

_Raven_

She had given him every out she thought he would need, but he couldn’t bring himself to sign those papers. Nor could he get rid of the note. He now wore her wedding ring on the chain, under his shirt, he kept her note neatly folded in his wallet, and the divorce papers in a folder in his suitcase; on the off chance they ran into each other and she truly wanted that bloody divorce.

He hadn’t looked for her, though he could easily track Garth down and demand to know where she was. Her line ‘I don’t know what to do’ always struck him as her way of saying she was scared, and she wanted to do this alone, the divorce was so she could do it alone. He wouldn’t file it though, he couldn’t.

With great reluctance he had followed his family back to Gotham. Dick was miffed when Jason bought a Mets mug, though Jason despised the Mets as the eternal rival of the Gotham Knights. Tim thought he was heartbroken over Donna and promptly tried to set him up on several dates with the help of Duke and Stephanie. Cass insisted he was sad and always tried to get him to talk about it. Damian thought he was dramatic and should take Donna back; which had had Jason punching his baby brother in the mouth, because he’d never go back to Donna. Terry, Helena, B Jr., and Tommy mostly thought he had a dark secret and tried to uncover it.

Jason had only told Alfred about Raven, and shown Alfred the photos, the proof that she existed; though she had tried to erase herself from his life pretty damn well. Alfred approved of her, and continuously tried to push him to hunt her down, even after Alfred had read the note. Jason thought Alfred had valid points, but he couldn’t.

Until Australia, he had actively not thought about Raven, until that terrifying call. Much to B’s frustrations, and his family’s fury, he had dropped everything at the drop of a hat and bolted. Alfred and Selina had arranged his flight.

She was gone by the time he got there, nary a trace of her.

It was B’s wife, Selina who had tracked her down and done a casual run in with her to confirm she was alive for him. Selina had run into Raven in Seattle, where she was at the time, dating a man named Garfield Logan, and living with a woman named Rose Wilson. She was alright, and in one piece, Jason had nearly collapsed at the news, but resolved to stay away from her so she could be happy. She was dating someone, she had built another little life for herself, and he wanted her happy.

It was the only time he had considered signing the divorce papers and letting her go fully.

He hadn’t though.

He could never figure out why. He could never get the nerve to call her, to reconnect, nor could he find it in him to sign the bloody divorce papers. He kind of hoped she’d find out and track him down to yell at him, but she hadn’t ever come. Five years and she had never come after him, it unnerved him until tonight.

Setting his drink aside he walked to his bed and sat on it as he thought over Raven and what seeing her had stirred up.

Tomorrow he would talk to her, tomorrow he would tell her they were not divorced and he would beg, on his hands and knees if he had to, beg her for a second chance. He would do whatever she wanted, but he didn’t want to let her go; never again.

* * *

Raven cursed God for creating morning, she cursed existence for it, and she cursed her Aunt for calling her about Passover plans, and if she’d make it to Long Island for the celebration with her grandfather and cousins. Raven had barely said sure before hanging up and cursing morning. Coffee was not her normal poison but after last night with Rose, Joe, Kyd, and Slade, she needed it. Glancing at the time she saw that it was almost time for lunch, cursing the existence of family, people, and general morning issues she stumbled into the shower. Once cleaned a bit, she twisted her hair up into a large bun pinned to her head with two heirloom hairpins. Her outfit was her Wright jersey, and jeans before texting her ex-husband she was ready for lunch with him while she sipped her coffee and walked out of LUX. Luci and Maze were not awake yet, so she didn’t have to deal with their interrogation; yet.

Jason texted that he’d be there in fifteen.

She just hummed to herself and sipped her coffee; wishing for the millionth time it was November or October so she could have pumpkin spice flavoring. But alas, it was February and not the time of year for pumpkin flavoring.

Jason pulled up in a black Audi, she got in before he could get the door for her and she sunk into the warm seat. Though she had a leather jacket, and didn’t get cold, she would admit she was exhausted.

“You look like death warmed over,” he remarked which had her glaring at him.

“Do you realize what a pain in the ass, not one, but three bridezillas are!?” she demanded. “I was up until three in the morning just trying to diffuse the flower crisis between Dad, Kyd and Joe! Then Alice calls me at eleven in the morning wanting to know if I’ll be home for Passover.”

“Really?”

“Wherever we’re going better have copious amounts of coffee because after lunch I have to go deal with the tailor.”

“Then I’ll take us someplace else,” he promised. “No Thai.”

“I want this wedding over with!” she whined.

“Could be a shotgun wedding they don’t remember,” he chuckled.

“That’s not going to happen,” she sighed regretfully. She was insanely happy for Joe and Kyd; especially because Joe had been so nervous about coming out as Pansexual, but Slade, Rose, Grant, and her had been prepared to be nothing but supportive; she still had the Pride banners shoved in her closet from the parade she did with Joe and Kyd last year. Though she was miffed at a lesbian trying to get into her pants; that had gotten ugly.

“Well, not everyone can be as fortunate as us,” he teased.

“Everyone else remembers their wedding,” she pointed out. “Also, if my family found out I got married but didn’t have a huge, traditional Jewish wedding, I think they’d perish!”

“You’re Jewish?”

“I love bacon,” she deadpanned.

He laughed. She forgotten how beautiful his laugh was; it wasn’t fair that he got to show up and remind her how beautiful and amazing he was. And it wasn’t fair that she couldn’t have him, Donna Troy was dating him again according to the tabloids; and she hated the Princess for it. But Jason deserved the best, and that was not her.

“Yes, my family is Jewish, my grandfather survived Dachau, his family was set to Auschwitz,” Raven answered.

“Damn, I didn’t know,” he said softly, his hand caught hers and his thumb gently rubbed her knuckles. “My mom was Irish Catholic,” he informed her.

“I bet our wedding would’ve been a riot then,” she decided with a soft laugh.

“Probably,” he chuckled. She withdrew her hand and wrapped it around her warm travel mug. “So the wedding, I didn’t know you had a brother.”

“I have two step brothers, and a step sister,” she answered honestly. “I have an adopted brother, too.”

He nodded as he drove them onto the freeway and started heading north.

“So how’ve you been Jason?”

“Fine, been nonstop work since New Zealand, I’m taking over the West Coast branch, Tim’s taking over the East Coast,” he answered. “I also have some international business I take care of.”

“That’s great.”

“I am just thankful to be moving away from my family finally,” he chuckled.

“You adore them and you know it.”

“That’s not the point, they’re overwhelming, other than Cat and Alfred.”

“Cat and Alfred?”

“Sorry, Selina is B’s second wife, and we call her Cat because she loves cats, and Alfred is kind of our grandfather.”

“Cool.”

“How about you?”

“Well, I move a lot, Garth and I still work together, with my brother Victor,” she answered. “My family gripes a lot that I’m not around enough because we travel all the time, but they get it. They’re supportive, even if that means a lot of Facetime calls.”

“That’s great,” he smiled; she saw it was a genuine smile which had her shyly returning it.

“So what about you? Anyone special?” she asked.

“Special?”

“Dating! I see the tabloids Jay,” she chuckled. “So you and Donna are you rebounding to serious again?” she questioned. She hated asking, mainly cause she still wanted to claw Donna’s eyes out, but the woman was a Princess, she was more than worthy for Jason Todd.

Raven didn’t notice his knuckles whitening on the wheel as they both stared at the road.

“No,” he answered softly. “I will never get serious with Donna again. We’re… we’re just trying to be friends, and it’s not easy,” he admitted.

“Being friends with exes is never easy,” Raven assured him.

“What about you?”

“Me?”

“You know, dating,” he chuckled.

She grimaced remembering her few failed attempts at dating. “No, not really. The last guy I dated had asked me out to make my sister jealous; it worked, they’ve been together for two years. And there’ve been a few dates, here and there, but no sparks or attraction,” she shrugged.

She didn’t notice him relax a little.

“Shame,” he decided neutrally.

“You know what I miss, and I blame you entirely for it,” she asked.

“What?”

“Sex,” she blurted out. He roared with laughter as they sped down the freeway.

“Really!?”

“Before you I had never had sex, because of you I have impossibly high standards for sex that no one will ever be able to meet!” she whined.

“I can solve that,” he offered.

“Maybe,” she shrugged dismissively; it’d never happen. Not with him. He was a galaxy away from her league.

“I missed you Rae,” he chuckled.

“Same,” she admitted with a smile. “So where are we going?”

“A place with sandwiches and coffee,” he promised.

“Oh Thank God,” she moaned. “Sorry, I haven’t eaten since yesterday afternoon, and I didn’t get a great nights sleep.”

“No need to explain Rae,” he promised.

“Well, it’s just…” she sighed as she rubbed her brow. This wasn’t about coffee and sandwiches with her ex-husband. “This isn’t just about having lunch with you Jason.”

“I kind of figured.”

“You did?” her head snapped over to study his relaxed profile.

“It’s not just lunch for me either Rae,” he said and looked over at her with a serious, guarded expression.

“I’m sorry,” she murmured. “For… for everything,” she sighed.

“No,” he said so harshly and firmly she just stared dumbly at him.

“What?”

“You have no reason to be sorry, for any of this,” he said. “You tried to do the right thing, I’m sorry I didn’t come after you five years ago so we could talk, a real talk, about this.”

“I…”

“No, let me say this because you talked last night and I need to say this.”

“Okay.”

“You met me after Donna had left me at the altar and ran off with my best friend, and brother in arms. And you helped me through a truly terrible, humiliating point in my life, and I never thanked you for that. You didn’t push or pry or try to make me feel things I didn’t, or were expect to. You were there, you were my friend, my wife, and I’m sorry I didn’t make you feel valued enough or safe enough to come to me for help when you needed it. I’m sorry you felt the need to run off on your own rather than come to me. And I’m sorry you saw Donna kiss me, and I’m sorry.”

“It’s alright, Jason, it was a vacation mistake,” she shrugged.

“No, it’s not alright, Raven,” he said it firmly. “Donna was the mistake. You were not.”

“She’s the Princess of Greece, Jason, I’m… me, I’m the mistake,” she said confidently. She knew she was the mistake here, no way in a million years he’d have even stuck with her once they got back to reality, and she went trapezing off with Garth and Vic to study the ocean he’d realize what a terrible mistake they were.

“Rae,” he spoke softly and she glanced back at him. “You are the best damn thing that has ever happened to me. And we’re here.”

“I dibs the tuna sandwich,” she warned him as they got out of the car. He got the door for her, she nodded as she passed. He got them a table, it was only after the starstruck waitress left that he turned his attention back on her.

“Tuna is all mine,” he decided.

“That’s declaring war,” she warned.

“Perhaps,” he shrugged.

“How about we split two sandwiches, I’ll give you half my tuna for the crabcake!”

“Deal!”

“Excellent,” she chuckled. “And Jason, just so you know, you don’t have to lie to make me feel better about us.”

“I’m not lying,” he said.

“Sure you’re not.” She snorted and smiled as she put the menu aside and sipped her coffee. She still wanted pumpkin spice, she cursed autumn for being so far away.

“Rae, you and I, it was the best damn thing to happen to me,” he stated it firmly.

“You are surprisingly happy about us for an ex-husband, are you all this way or just you exclusively?”

“Well, it’s not an ex-husband thing, because that’s kind of what we’re here to talk about,” he said.

“How is it not an ex-husband thing?”

“Kind of like how this isn’t an ex-wife meeting,” he answered. “I never signed the papers Raven.”

She felt all the blood drain from her face as the waitress came over to take their order. He placed the order and waited for her to respond.

“You… you what!?” she sputtered dumbly.

“Never signed them, Rae,” he answered. “So technically, we’re husband and wife.”

“But… but…” she stammered dumbly not knowing what to say to that. “I… WHY!?” she hissed.

“Because,” he answered.

“That’s not a reason to stay married to a person Jason! Especially when I’ve tried dating other people!” she hissed. She was so going to Hell for adultery now.

“No, you didn’t know,” he answered. “But I couldn’t sign them or file them.”

“You should! You should right now!” she insisted.

“No,” he repeated calmly.

“Jason!” she hissed.

“Raven.”

“This is **_SERIOUS!_** If you don’t sign those papers, and people find out that… and… we’ll, the media will crucify you! And your family will join them!” she hissed.

“Let them,” he shrugged. “I was serious Rae.”

“I don’t even remember us **_getting_** married!”

“Neither do I, but nonetheless, we are,” he said levelly.

She groaned as she hid her face in her hands and wanted to tear her hair out of her head in frustration now.

“Rae, love, look at me,” he pleaded. She glared at him through the fringes of hair now cascading around her face. Oh she was pissed, the hardest thing she had ever had to do, even harder than saying goodbye to her mother or watching her family fall apart because of her biological father, was saying goodbye to the man she had married. And worse, she had known it was the right thing to do. Drunken mistakes should not be consequences for life, and she had been able to fix theirs with a simple divorce!

“I’m… I fixed our mistake! I did everything to fix it!” she snapped.

“I couldn’t sign the papers because I never could view it as a mistake,” he answered levelly. “And if you’re willing, I would like to try again.”

“Oh no,” she gasped. She could feel her chest tightening in panic, as her heart slammed in her ribs. “No. I… No, I can’t do this, no.”

“Why not?”

“Because I’m a mistake Jason!” she snapped. “I’m a mistake and this marriage between us, only happened because we were drunk off our asses and, on a boat, somehow; and I still don’t know how we got on the boat because the last thing I remember is the pub! Also, you’re… you were, are, engaged to a Princess, how the hell can I compete with that! You’re American Royalty, Jason! Your Dad is the richest man in the world, and I… I’m me!” she sputtered.

“You loved me when you thought I was just Jason Todd, mechanic,” he pointed out.

“This isn’t about the money Jason,” she sighed.

“Then what’s it about?”

“You deserve better than me,” she stated.

“I think it’s the other way around love,” he said softly. “The day you left, the day Donna came to take me home, I was coming home to you, to talk to you about us getting a flat, and seeing where you wanted to go from New Zealand. If Donna hadn’t intercepted me, I’d have come back with you, immediately, no questions asked, no expectations. You’re my wife Raven.”

“Doesn’t mean we should be together!” she snapped.

“I think you and I got married for a reason, drunk or not, and I think we should give this a real shot,” he said firmly.

“Jason…”

“I would have called you five years ago if I wasn’t so damn scared, or hurt, and I would’ve come for you immediately, always regretted that I didn’t. So please, please, I’ll do anything for a second shot with you,” he said softly.

“Jason, sign the papers,” she pleaded. “You’ll… you deserve to be happy; I don’t make people happy.”

“How about, we date, try dating, and if it doesn’t work out, I’ll sign the papers,” he bartered.

Raven stared at him; she didn’t know what to make of that.

“A date?”

“Can’t a man ask his wife on a date?”

“I…”

“We didn’t do the whole dating thing the first time around, and I would like to remedee that this time,” he said levelly.

“We skipped straight to the marriage, and wild sex,” she muttered as they were served. They both waited for the waitress to leaven before she automatically swiped half his sandwich and he took half of hers.

“I missed the sex too,” he chuckled. “You broke my standards, no one else compares.”

“Oh Thank God That’s Ruined For You Too,” she laughed as she took a bite of her tuna sandwich.

“You ruined many things Rae, like tea, I still can’t figure out how you made that one tea to make me sleep, but I can’t remake it for the life of me. I’ve almost cried craving it,” he chuckled.

“You ruined waffles for me,” she warned. “I mean no one can make them right, I cried on my kitchen floor one morning I wanted them so badly. The chocolate chip ones with strawberries,” she moaned at the mere memory.

“Good book conversations,” he stated. “I joined a book club I was so desperate to talk books, intelligently, turns out that was mostly a gossip group; all four of the ones I joined.”

“Ha!” she stuck her tongue out at him for that, he had told them to join a book club when they had first married and enjoyed talking books. “I told you they weren’t what you thought!”

“Some of them must be actual book clubs but I haven’t found one.”

“Could be because you’re Jason Todd.”

“Very possible.”

“But we don’t have to be married to do things like that, I can give you the tea recipe and we can be friends who talk books,” she offered.

“Rae, it’s not just about that,” he chuckled.

“Sure it is, I’ll be your friend, but I don’t think I should be your wife,” she said firmly.

“Little bird, I’m not divorcing you, besides you need to keep the insurance,” he said firmly.

“About that, I should pay you back.”

“Don’t you dare,” he warned lowly. She stared at his fierce, guarded expression. “And don’t even think about changing me from your emergency contact!”

* * *

He didn’t want her to pay him back for taking care of her, she would never understand how much she had taken care of him. And when she brought it up it reminded him how neatly she had erased herself from his life, how she had promised to remove him as her emergency contact. That had actually been a fight between them when they were barely friends. A bar fight landed him in the hospital, and he had to call someone, apparently, they were going to call his grandfather when he convinced them to call the girl he had hooked up with the night before, Raven. Raven had been shocked but had come to help him get discharged, and the ensuing arguments had led to them agreeing to be each other’s emergency contact while they were in New Zealand. The wedding had happened after that by about a week.

“I…”

“You terrified me, Rae,” he stated. “I came back to the hotel room and everything of you was gone, including our photos. You just… you erased yourself from my life, and I swear I couldn’t take it if you removed me as your emergency contact. I’m your husband, I deserve to know if you’re in trouble.”

“Ex-husband.”

“I haven’t signed the papers, and they’re safely hidden away so you can’t make me,” he pointed out. He felt a bit smug about that statement as she glared at him.

“I signed them!”

“I know, and it still terrifies me that you could do it so easily,” he stated. He saw her flinch, and he knew. Just one look at her and he knew, that it hadn’t been easy for her. None of this was easy, but he got the sense that this was also his fault for waiting five years. He hadn’t lost her yet, but he got a feeling that he was precariously close to if he wasn’t careful. There was very little about her, what made her make her decisions, that he actually knew and if he wasn’t careful he knew he could lose her. She already seemed to hold a low opinion of her value, and she seemed skittish about having someone in her life who wasn’t family. Though the skittish aspect of her was always there, if he moved to quickly, or raised his voice a certain amount she’d jump, she’d flinch, and he remembered her nightmares, though very few, were very intense. Something had happened to her, before he had met her, something that made her skittish; made her this way, and he should’ve chased her five years ago to not let it manifest further, but he hadn’t. Things to add to his list of regrets.

“I did what I thought was best, for us, as people in a situation we didn’t sign up for.”

“I have a marriage certificate that says we did sign up for this.”

“Jason, I… I’m not the best person for someone like you,” she started.

“I think you’re the best person I’ve ever met, Raven.”

“Jason…” she sighed as she dragged her hand through her hair.

“Can you please just consider giving us a shot, a real shot?” he asked.

“I…”

“I would like to take you, not my guilt stricken wife, out,” he reiterated it. “I would like to take you out.”

“Like a hit or a date?”

“I’ll leave that to be a surprise.”

“I don’t like surprises,” she muttered.

“Well, then we’re a hell of a surprise,” he mused. “Please Rae. I would like to take my beautiful, estranged wife out on a date, have fun, and no expectations.”

“I gave you the divorce papers so we wouldn’t have expectations.”

“You gave us an out, and I’m not out yet,” he said levelly.

“Fine,” she threw up her hands in defeat. “I’ll go on a date with my idiotic ex-husband.”

He smiled in triumph and stole one of her fries.

“HEY! Hands off!” she snapped as she snatched her fry basket up.

“We’re married, we’re supposed to share.”

“Only until you sign those damn papers!”

“Never,” he chuckled. “So when are you free from family and wedding obligations?”

“You are not going to my brother’s wedding, just so we’re clear about this. You are not going,” she stated that firmly. There was a bit of hurt in his heart that she wasn’t even going to offer it as an option, but he was sure that in time he’d win her over. Doing so at her brother’s wedding was likely too much pressure, and would require them explaining that they were married; which he didn’t know if her family would take that well. Going off Lucifer’s reaction he would bet they didn’t even know.

“That’s fine,” he nodded.

“I’m free after the wedding. The wedding is February fourteenth,” she sighed.

“So can I take you for dinner on February fifteenth?” he asked levelly.

“Fine,” she nodded. “But I’m leaving with Garth and Dolphin on the twentieth, we’re meeting up with Vic on a job.”

“Where’s the job?”

“We’re going back to Hawaii to research reefs. Garth’s family is there and they want to be close to his family,” she shrugged.

“I thought he studied whales.”

“Well, he’s a marine biologist, there’s a solid job for him in Hawaii, same for me, and Vic’s already there, so we’re going there. Dolphin also…” she clamped her mouth shut then.

“Also what?”

“She’s pregnant, she wants to be close to his family, but I’m not supposed to tell anyone that!” she muttered.

“Congratulations to Dolphin and Garth.”

“They’re excited, I’m telling my family I’m leaving after the wedding,” she said.

He nodded, he was already trying to calculate if he could afford to head of to Hawaii for a bit to continue wooing his reluctant wife.

“I’m still going to call and text you,” he informed her.

“You don’t have to.”

“We’re friends, it’s about time we act it. And we’re husband and wife.”

“Fine.” She rolled her eyes, and he smiled; this was going to take a lot of work. That was fine by him though.


	3. Fighting Realities

Jason walked into his hotel room, where he was greeted by a hung over pair. Dick, and Tim both groaned like the dead when his door clicked shut, which had him smirking.

“So, how are you!?” he bellowed as he leaned over the couch to watch the duo grimace in agony.

“Please be quieter, the colors have sounds!” Tim whined.

“Serves you idiots right,” Jason snorted.

“Dude I’m getting married, cut me some slack,” Dick moaned. Jason rolled his eyes at that as he walked over to where the small kitchen was. A rule of his was to stay in hotels with kitchens because he liked cooking.

“Where were you?” Tim asked, pulling himself up. Jason noted his baby brother looked like a drowned racoon, with massive bags bruising beneath his eyes so he looked like a racoon.

“Out,” he answered.

“Ooo! With Donna!?” Dick bolted up looking recovered from his hangover.

Jason grimaced at the mere thought. “No.”

“Please tell me you actually went on a coffee date and not just out to sulk,” Dick pleaded.

“I don’t think it’s rightly any of your business,” Jason quipped as he started making the hang over cure.

“Come on Jay!” Dick whined.

“It’s truly not your business,” he stated more firmly. “I’ll make the cure, but I have a meeting with Donna in an hour,” he said. Dick pouted and Tim just looked annoyed.

To be entirely honest, Jason didn’t want Raven to meet his family until he had their marriage more stable so they couldn’t scare her off. He didn’t know entirely where he stood with Raven but he wasn’t going to give her a real reason to bolt. And other than Alfred, he didn’t know if he wanted her to meet his family just yet. There was also the fact he just didn’t want to share his wife with his idiotic family. He was a selfish bastard by nature after all

“So you do have a meeting with Donna!?” Dick grinned and winced as he rubbed his temples.

“I have a business meeting with the Princess of Greece and a few associates,” he quipped. “There’ll be other people there.”

“Why can’t you two just kiss and make up already?” Tim sighed.

Jason said nothing. Mainly he couldn’t and wouldn’t kiss and make up with Donna because he had a wife! A wife who he wanted to know better and happened to enjoy the company of, far more than he enjoyed Donna’s company.

When Jason had actually thought about his relationship with Donna he realized they didn’t have much in common, and they didn’t actually have much together. The sex was great, the independence and familiarity of each other had been a comfort, but neither of them were actually a priority to the other. When he had been pulling himself together after the war, she wasn’t the one beside him. And when she had survived the assassination attempt on her, he hadn’t been the one beside her. Their relationship, to the eyes of the public was a beautiful fairy tale, of which it was not. They were together because of the public, it was expected of them, and expected of their families. It wasn’t a love match, hadn’t been for a long time.

Though that didn’t exonerate her behavior to his few other exes and dates, and most certainly had him wanting to keep Raven out of Donna’s path. Preferably for all of eternity if he could have it his way. Somehow, even now, Donna felt she had a claim on him, a claim on his heart and his life, and the public fed that because the public thought he and Donna were reconciling and getting back together, slowly. Which was not happening, ever, on his end.

“Jay,” Dick’s hand touched his shoulder and dragged his head out of his thoughts as he glanced over at his elder brother.

“I’m fine,” he replied tersely.

“Look, I know you and Donna are complicated, and things are tense between you guys, but you’re really good together, and we just want you happy,” Dick said softly.

“Donna and I are none of your concern,” he stated this calmly and finished making the cure.

“Of course you’re our concern, Jay, you’re our brother,” Dick said firmly. Tim nodded vigorously but then grimaced in agony at his actions.

“And I assure you, here and now, Donna and I are not your concern,” he repeated and handed his brothers the cure. He went to change for his meeting, one he didn’t want to go to, but was going to nonetheless, then he had an apartment hunt with Dick after the meeting. It wasn’t going to be ideal, but he could manage it, and maybe, if he was lucky, he could convince Raven to hang out with him in the morning. He knew that final hope would take a lot of persuading on his end, but it’d be worth it if he could get her to agree. Even if he had to bribe her with waffles, the specific waffles she loved.

“Alright, I’ll see you in a few, don’t get Tim drunk, again,” he said as he left. Jason drank, but when he did, it was not with his brothers. Mainly his brothers were prying, emotional drunks, and Jason was not and he didn’t want his short fuse mixing with their inebriated states.

Jason made it to his meeting in twenty minutes, walking into the lobby of the building his father owned, before walking for his floor. He saw Roy, curtly nodded as he walked by. Though he and Roy were no longer as close as they once were they were getting to be friends again. A few fights and beating the ever living shit out of each other, followed by beers, had them resolving to never let a woman get between them again, even if said woman was Donna Troy. Jason and Roy were still working on being friends though, but he was thinking that after apartment hunting with his brother he would go out for drinks with Roy. He already knew there was no way in hell he’d convince his wife to see him again today.

* * *

Raven stood in the mirrors at the tailors, with Joe nervously appraising the dress she’d be wearing for his wedding. Raven just felt utterly ridiculous and eternally grateful the dress wasn’t pink; Alice and Harley had both tried on numerous occasions to get Raven in pink. Joe at least had some sense of style. The vintage plum colored dress, was loose, clung to her figure and was modest enough to suit her, with sleeves that flowed to her elbows and a v-neck to show off her minimal cleavage. She looked good, and the dark, rich purple with her skin tone truly had her eyes popping, the natural violet of her eyes stunned even her in this dress.

The open slope of the back was what they were working on right now with the strings crisscrossing, and Joe nervously assessing it.

“Would you relax Joe!?” Raven snapped when Joe once again moved to interfere with the tailor’s work; Raven didn’t fancy being pricked by more pins.

‘_Sorry, I want it perfect!_’ Joe signed rapidly.

“And it will be, but you can’t keep interfering or they’ll never get the work done in time,” she reminded him.

Today had been Joe’s final tux fitting, he and Kyd, had settled on having drastically contrasting colors for their tuxes which would compliment each other. Joe was going with bright magenta while Kyd had gone with a deep green. Not that Joe or Kyd had seen the other’s tux; ‘twas bad luck to see the partner before the wedding and all.

Raven supposed they were doing this the proper way and had all the rights to fuss though, but if she got pricked by another pin because of Joe she’d be royally pissed.

‘_You look beautiful!_’ Joe smiled as he signed that, she chuckled.

“Thank you Joe,” she nodded to him.

‘_One day it’ll be your day,_’ he assured her. Raven said nothing to her stepbrother’s statement.

“Maybe,” she shrugged. She’d already had her day, and she had no idea what she’d worn to her wedding, or how she looked, or how the wedding went. But there was that gaudy ring, Jason had always promised to get her a better, more suited ring for her, but had never gotten around to it. “Probably after Gar and Rose tie the knot,” she teased.

‘_Before Grant,_’ Joe signed with a huge smile.

“Well obviously I’ll get hitched before Grant, I’m too awesome not to,” she chuckled.

Joe made a move to interfere which had her folding her arms and glaring at him, he nervously smiled as he took a step back.

Raven hadn’t told her family she had gotten married, even Garth didn’t know. And that was probably going to bite her in the ass, even as she thought it her phone chirped, where it was with her jacket and clothes, Joe grabbed it for her.

‘_Whose Jason?_’ he signed as he handed it over to her.

“A friend,” she answered as she accepted the phone from Joe.

**-Breakfast tomorrow?**

Raven looked at her brother who looked invasively curious as he tried to peer at her text.

“You can stop that. Jason’s an old friend, I met him on one of my adventures,” she said.

Joe blinked but nodded.

Her ‘adventures’ were off limits to anyone, but the people involved in them. It had been this way since she was three.

Raven had many reasons to keep her adventures to herself, but mainly it was so no one else could piece together where she was. It annoyed Garth, but it was a safety precaution her entire family had agreed to take to keep her safe since the time she was two years old. Her ‘adventures’ were periods of her life where she was on the run, not because of anything illegal she had done, but rather to evade the people who wanted her.

Raven’s mother had been sucked into a cult; not just any cult either, but the Church of Blood.

Now, to fully understand, her uncle, and most of his siblings; Michael, Amenadiel, Gabriel, Raphael, Azrael, Zauriel, Ramiel, Uriel, and Cassiel, had escaped the same cult; the Church of Blood. The Church of Blood was founded by her grandfather; a man who had called himself God, or Yahweh, or Father, was so greatly diluted in his delusion that he thought himself God. He had founded the Church of Blood, and established it as a legitimate Church, but it was a cult. So enamored with his own delusion he had named all his children for the angels, and he’d had many. Lucifer, who’s real name was Samael, was formally his father’s favorite son. Until her father had been born, her father, named Skath, was ‘God’s’ favorite.

Her uncle, Lucifer, had come to the realization he lived in a cult, with the aid of his servant Mazikeen; it had prompted action as he grabbed many of his younger siblings; and at the age of fifteen ran. He had taken Michael and Mazikeen’s help for their escape and trekked through the endless nothings of the Nevada desert until they reached Reno. Lucifer got the papers for his siblings, they adopted the name Morningstar, and Lucifer had changed his name from Samael to Lucifer as a huge ‘Fuck You!’ to their father. Michael had gotten them the England and helped raise her uncles and aunts with the aid of Lucifer and Mazikeen.

Raven didn’t know the full story, but she knew her Uncle Michael was in London, and aided Lucifer in their operation of getting people out of cults when people wanted out. Most of their siblings were in that organization, it was call Guardian Angels, and very secretive in operations. Raven had never gotten the chance to get involved with it, in fact, all her uncles and aunts had forbidden it.

When Raven was a baby though, her mother had gotten her out, with Lucifer’s aid. Her mom didn’t get out of the Church of Blood for another ten years; not for a lack of trying but rather because Arella was the favorite wife of her biological father; Skath. Her mother knew the Church of Blood’s prophecy about Skath’s only daughter being mother of the savior. Her mom, upon discovering she was pregnant made preparations to get her out, before she was even born.

The only reason Raven even knew that much was because her mother had smuggled her out of the compound and left her, in the icy cold of November’s wrath on the eleventh, on the doorsteps of a firehouse station in Minnesota, with nothing but the names Lucifer Morningstar and Mazikeen Smith pinned to her ratty baby blanket. The rest of her story evolved to being continuously moved between Lucifer, Harley and Ivy, and Alice; several abductions, and several escapes from the Church of Blood. Her mother’s escape had been aided by her second husband, and Raven’s beloved stepfather; Slade Wilson, who bought a ranch in New Mexico so her mother could return to her childhood lands.

Raven had met her best friend on one of her kidnapping escapes, Garth’s family had been camping in the Rockies when she stumbled onto their campsite; she was five. She had barely survived that escape, her mother had been stabbed when they were running, and Arella had urged Raven to keep running, Raven ran. Ran right into the Curry campsite, screaming.

Arthur, his wife Mera, and their children; Garth and Koryak only at that point in time; had immediately taken her to the hospital, contacted the police and didn’t leave her. Raven screamed bloody murder any time anyone had attempted to remove her from Arthur Curry’s arms, it was a few days later that Maze and Luci had shown up, frantic; especially because of her kidnapping which had happened a month prior to her being found. The Curry family had remained her friend, and even helped aid in her family’s elaborate game of keep away with her. Though it did not thwart all the kidnapping attempts.

The elaborate game of keep away became known as Raven’s ‘adventures’ and whatever happened when she was away from a certain aspect of her family was to be kept secret. The less of a trail she left about for the Church of Blood to follow the less likely they were to get her; again.

It didn’t work, because the Church of Blood knew who her main family nucleus were, but they could never pinpoint where exactly she’d be at any given time and that kept people safe. The Church of Blood didn’t want attention drawn to them, so Harley, and Ivy had made their careers hugely public, Alice had married a New York City E.S.U. officer, Lucifer Morningstar was one of the most public, and dangerous people known, as was his wife, Mazikeen, and most of his siblings were either really well known for their works, or very reclusive and hard to find. The Curry family was a problem because they were normal people, so her relationship with them, as a whole, was kept very quiet.

Raven didn’t have social media, her family did not post her in their media, she did not have a single home, living out of her suitcases, and getting a job which would keep her mobile. She did not stay in a place long enough to develop real friends, and she did nothing to stand out.

Being in Hawaii while she recovered from her marriage, and mother’s death was the longest she had stayed in one place.

The four years Lucifer had exclusively taken custody of her from her other three families, was four years spent travelling, learning to fight, escape, and do other illegal things which would probably save her life one day. She had lived in Europe, and Asia, and Africa, while also travelling frequently to South America and Central America. Her entire college career was composed of exchange programs and travelling great distances to complete programs, she had never been in a place long enough to form a home. She never went wildly reckless; there were no mishaps or drugs in her life, she kept to herself and made it a point to never get drunk or leave her drinks out of her site.

The most reckless thing she had ever done was marrying Jason Todd; and it wasn’t until she was stateside that she realized she married one of the most public figures in America, and the world for that matter! She was mortified, and terrified, and worked hard to keep her distance; even though she missed him and regretted the divorce and her manner of leaving him. But there was no way it’d be safe for them to stay married, and once he learned her whole story it was very possible, he’d run for the hills.

‘_Does he know?_’ Joe signed frantically.

“No,” she answered.

She texted her answer to him as the tailor continued her work on the dress. Raven watched the work carefully but didn’t elaborate for Joe. Raven didn’t know why she was letting her stubborn ex-husband pull her back into his life, but she was too exhausted to fight it at this moment.

Finally, the dress fitting was over, and Raven changed back into her clothes, and her boots, walking with Joe for a quiet dinner in a hole in the wall restaurant he adored with great Italian food.

‘_You could always tell us if you make friends,_’ Joe insisted.

“I know,” she assured her brother.

‘_I like knowing there’s other people out there who love you like we do,_’ Joe informed her.

“Well, I’m not sure love is involved with Jason,” Raven chuckled.

‘_Is he important to you?_’

“It’s more complicated than important Joe, and he’s just an old friend,” Raven dismissed.

‘_Is he hot?_’

“According to Rose, he’s devastatingly hot, and should pop my cherry,” Raven said in amusement. Joe balked. “Don’t worry unlike Rose I will not force you to listen to my sex life.”

‘_Do you even have one?_’

“I have one, I just don’t flaunt it like you lot do!” she snapped.

He laughed silently as they got their seats.

* * *

Jason walked with Roy into the sports bar, and sighed as they took a booth, and were left alone from the rowdy patrons. Roy was wearing that shit eating grin as he watched the women, and Jason just looked at the menu.

“So what have you been up to, brother?” Roy asked.

“Not ogling everything with breasts,” he answered. “You want the chicken sandwich or a burger?”

“Jason!” Roy whined.

“You’ll have the chicken and I’ll take the burger,” he decided.

“Kill joy,” Roy muttered but went to get their food. Jason stared out the window when his phone buzzed.

**-Sure**

The simple answer had him texting he’d get her at seven. She sent back that he’d better have coffee; copious amounts of coffee or she was sleeping in.

He shook his head as Roy returned with their food.

“So what’s with the grin?” he asked as he sat.

“Remember when you stole my fiancée?” Jason asked.

Roy winced; visibly winced as he looked at his food. “Sorry about that man.”

“I don’t care,” he dismissed. “You make her happier than I can, so keep her. Besides that’s not what I want to talk about.”

“Well you brought it up!”

“Not to discuss another apology from you,” Jason stated. “When I was on my trip I met someone else,” he clarified.

“Oh?” Roy raised a brow at this.

“Roy, I’m married.”

“No you’re not,” Roy snorted.

“Her name is Raven Roth, she’s a marine biologist, I have been married to her for five years,” Jason said as he pulled up the old photo he loved to look at when she crossed his mind. It was simple, her, just her, dressed in his jacket, with a big blue and purple wool scarf, her hair was everywhere, escaping it’s braid, she was smiling, her bright violet eyes were mischievous, and everything about her, from the jeans, boots and jacket screamed she was trouble. But as beautiful as a nymph.

He handed the photo to Roy then, Roy blinked several times.

“She’s hot,” Roy decided. Jason said nothing to this. “Wait, does anyone know?”

“Alfred and Cat do,” he answered honestly as he took the phone back.

“So five years, and you kept this relationship secret!?” Roy sputtered.

“Not exactly,” he admitted with a wince. “She left me, the day Donna and you found me,” he admitted.

“Wait, what?”

“Left the signed divorce papers, a note and the ring,” he said levelly.

“Because of Donna and I?”

“No, I think that’s just an unhappy collision of coincidences for timing,” he admitted.

“Okay, but how’d you meet her?”

“In a bar fight,” he admitted.

“Seriously dude?”

“The woman can kick ass, I shit you not, she’s good at it, she was an acting bouncer the previous night when I saw her.”

“Damn, that’s really hot. But after Donna,”

“We were drunk, and married on a whale watching tour, by the ship’s captain, I have the marriage license to prove it,” he stated.

“And signed divorce papers.”

“I never signed them nor have I filed them,” Jason stated.

“Damn, does she know.”

“Until today, no she did not.”

“I do not want to be you,” Roy decided.

“I’ve convinced her to date me,” Jason defended.

“So why are you telling me this, and not your brothers?” Roy asked.

“Cause if you told them they’d never believe you,” he smirked.

Roy choked on his beer then, and glared at him. “Seriously!”

“Yes. Also, you fucking owe me.”

“I vow not to sleep with this one.”

“I’m telling you because I’m going to need a few covers,” he said.

“Why not just tell your family about her?”

“Yes, that will go over very well. ‘Hey, remember when I ran off because I was pissed and humiliated because my best friend was screwing my fiancée; and I found out on the day of the wedding? Well, I got married and don’t remember it because I was so smashed, and married to a virtual stranger, but don’t worry, she’s not a gold digger.’” He deadpanned.

“I see your point.”

“Also, they keep pushing for Donna and I to be together, and that’s not happening, but they don’t see reason,” Jason shrugged.

“True, kind of like your decision to join the Air Force,” Roy nodded.

“Yes, because that went over really well with them,” he remarked sarcastically.

“Well, why don’t you start from the beginning of this and we’ll go from there.”

“There’s not a whole hell of a lot there, we were both wasted one weekend, got hitched in international waters, don’t even ask because I barely remember getting back to the hotel, and that’s a recent memory. We were both blacked out drunk, and only knew each other for a week,” Jason said. “She and I met in a pub brawl, couple days later I called her when I was in the hospital because they wouldn’t discharge me without me calling someone; it was a couple of cracked ribs, and a minor concussion,” he defended.

“The whimps!” Roy mocked.

“She came, picked me up, we started hanging out. I remember vaguely asking her out for a Friday night bash I’d been invited to, and I remember us getting to the pub, and the drinks but until Monday that entire weekend is a blur.”

“Anything from that weekend you remember?”

“No, it comes in blurbs at night, a vague impression in the dreams, my therapist says it’s normal,” he shrugged. He’d been going to a therapist for years, therapy helped him manage his PTS, though it didn’t cure it. Memories of Raven were a good out for him when he was overwhelmed by himself. Roy understood, he knew he did, after all Roy had been his partner and teammate for most their missions, which was why he’d been pissed at Roy for sleeping with Donna. Roy was more his brother than his actual brothers, Roy was his best friend, his brother in arms, and he had betrayed that trust a bit. But Jason couldn’t stay mad at Roy, they’d been through too much together for him to stay mad with Roy; however, he could happily stay pissed at Donna for all of eternity.

“Well, that’s not helpful.”

“I bought her this,” Jason pulled the ring out with his dog tags. “Even have the receipt with that.”

“Damn dude, you went all out for her,” Roy chuckled.

The ring was huge, very blingy and gaudy, a big blue sapphire with emeralds surrounding it. It wasn’t the best thing he’d given her, but she thought it hilarious, and stunning, but also not her style. He just knew he was drunk to have picked that out for her. The black pearls he had gotten her were more her style, and he’d been insanely pleased seeing she wore them last night, and today. He wondered if she did that intentionally.

“She’s worth it,” Jason admitted softly.

“What happened after you two woke up from the weekend?”

“Lots of laughs, bought her the morning after pill, cleaned up, talked about our options over breakfast. She moved into the hotel a couple of days later, it was a good thing, man. I mean a really damn good thing,” he nodded. He remembered when she had hesitantly moved in, it was autumn; April, the air was crisp, and she was hesitant about anything with them. They were friends, there’d been plenty of book talks, movie nights; lots of sex, and just good times. Bliss even, he’d dare to say she was also happy, and it was new.

“So what changed?”

“Timing, her mother died, she ran stateside, and from what she said that was also the day Donna found me,” Jason said leaning back in his seat to drag a hand through his hair.

“Well, I can tell you that the PI she hired didn’t discover Raven,” Roy said. “She just paid them to find you, not to dig into you. She actually got miffed at the idea of you having a vacation fling.”

“She shouldn’t be, she was screwing you behind my back.”

“Point taken,” he nodded.

“No one knows about her, except Alfred, Cat and now you,” he said.

“So what changed?”

“I saw her last night,” he said. “I had lunch with her this afternoon, and I convinced her to date me, so I’m going to need help and covers for when I’m out with her.”

“And you want me to be that cover?” Roy asked.

“She’s shy, skittish, about commitment, was like that even when we were living together, and I don’t want my family scaring her off.”

“Okay, I’ll help, but I want to meet her before the family when it gets to that point,” Roy decided.

“Thanks man.”

“No problem.” Roy and he watched the game that was on absently for a bit, in silence as they drank the beer, and ate their food. It was companionable. “So, is she like seriously good at ass kicking?”

“She took out three guys twice her size last night,” he pointed out.

“Hot damn.”

“I don’t think she’s weak, but she’s a good fighter if she can surprise her opponent.”

* * *

Raven was reluctantly awake at five in the morning when a sound outside her hotel room had her grabbing a knife from under her pillow and bolting upright. She was tense, she knew it, but LUX had the best security in LA, Luci would never be negligent with the security of his guests, and even more so because this was his personal base of operations. Still, she was uneasy, which had her creeping out of her room, looking at a pair who were making out heavily in the hallway while fumbling with the door. She hadn’t been able to go back to sleep after that.

It was because she’d been in one place for so long, she knew it.

All she had to do was survive the wedding then she’d be in Hawaii and from there who knew where’d she’d be. That’s it. Besides, she was sure she could convince Jason to divorce her, amicably and quietly.

Giving up her quest for sleep Raven checked the conditions and decided it was best to go out before she went stir crazy. She got her board on the roof, grabbed a wetsuit and her towels to leave, she was at the beach in twenty minutes. She was sure that it was a record for her, even with Garth texting he’d get there ASAP.

Raven went about getting prepped alone, drawing her long hair up into a firm tail and then braiding the tail so it stayed out of her face. Garth appeared as she finished pulling on her wetsuit and situating her boobs so they didn’t escape her bikini top. He smiled as he waved at her, she waved back, and he got out.

The paddle out was in silence, and the first few waves, in the chilly morning air were fun. She laughed when Garth wiped out really well.

“So, do you want to talk about it?” Garth asked as he sat on his board, trying to clear out his ears.

“Talk about what?”

“You’re antsy.”

“Well, been a while since I’ve been, you know, in one spot,” she shrugged.

“Rae, you can be in one spot, it’s not the end,” he insisted.

“Well, I’ve been here a month and a half,” she pointed out. “Wedding prep and the New Years celebration, I just need, I need something, I don’t know,” she shrugged.

“What’s got you spooked?”

“I ran into my ex,” she said.

“Oh?”

“Jason.”

“The New Zealand guy?”

“Yes.”

“So Mr. Mystery, he exists,” Garth chuckled.

“He’s very real,” she promised her friend.

“I know, and you two got serious pretty fast. I hadn’t seen you so happy, so I don’t get why it broke apart,” Garth said.

“Well, timing, and he’s got the perfect fiancé, and it just, things, particularly good things, they don’t happen to me,” she answered.

“Rae, that’s… bad shit happens to everyone, your bad shit just seems overwhelming because it’s batshit crazy,” he pointed out.

“That’s not helpful.”

“Neither is you evading or ignoring whatever good things happen to you,” Garth chuckled.

“The last good thing to happen to me was a disaster,” she pointed out.

“Dolphin and I have apologized a thousand times for that,” Garth pointed out.

“That wasn’t your fault, and I’ve been in worse situations, that one was just one you saw,” she pointed out.

“Rae,” Garth rubbed his face over.

“Jason and I got married,” she whispered.

“What?”

“Yeah, three days of black out drunk with no memories of the night, and we somehow got married,” she admitted.

“Wait, this is the three days you were unaccounted for, and had Luci and me going into full panic?”

“Yeah,” she admitted laying back on her board. “I fucked up Garth!” she wanted to cry, she wanted Victor to hug her and tell her she was going to be alright, or talk to Luci about it, but she was so freaked out.

“Rae,” Garth sighed.

“I mean, what sort of reckless idiot marries a stranger!?” she demanded.

“Raven!” Garth snapped, she turned her head to look at him then. “You are the youngest old person I have ever met. And I get it, you have been in the center of crazy your whole life, and your family created a witness protection program to keep you safe, and raised you as a badass. You are the smartest, most self-aware person I have ever met.”

“I am married to Jason, and he never signed the bloody divorce papers! I don’t even remember the damn wedding, or the first night of sex I had in my life!” she snapped. “We were blacked out drunk, the pair of us, and now we’re married. I’ve dated other people Garth!”

“Raven,” he touched her shoulder and sighed. “Does he make you happy?”

“He did,” she admitted.

“I remember because I wanted to meet him, you were always smiling, giggling, happy, you were glowing. Now, I’ve known you a long, long, long long time,” he said. “You are my dearest of friends,” he promised. “But I’ve never seen you happy until Jason. Genuinely happy, in love with living life happy, Rae, like you were with him.”

“I’m happy.”

“Rae, you are the queen of making the worst your best, you are good at being content, and it terrifies me,” he said softly. “But you weren’t ever happy.”

“I smile, and I laugh.”

“You do, frequently, and you appease all of us by giving up a lot to be safe, to keep us aware you’re safe, to keep yourself out of their grasp. You are amazing. I couldn’t survive what you have and come out on top, but you’re never happy. You’re content. Jason was when you were happy,” he said.

“What’s the difference?”

“A lot, but I can’t explain it,” he said. “I don’t understand what happened with you two, but when you were hurting after your mom, there were nights you’d cry out for him. I wanted, I always wanted to track him down for you, to drag him back and demand he fix it, because he had before.”

“There’s nothing to fix, Garth, I’m the mistake,” she pointed out tiredly.

“You’re not a mistake Rae,” Garth stated firmly. “You’re my best friend, and you’re going to be the godmother of my kid, and you’re family. You’re not a mistake. Not to me, and not to anyone else. I bet Jason feels the same way.”

“He’s engaged to the most perfect beautiful person on the planet, Garth,” Raven pointed out.

“But he’s married to you,” Garth stated firmly.

“He asked me on a date,” Raven sighed finally.

“And what did you say?”

“I said yes, I also said yes to breakfast this morning so we should head in, but Garth, I don’t know why I said yes, and it’s scaring me. I’m not supposed to have anything more to do with him, we… we weren’t anything to begin with!”

“Well, we paddle in, and you go for breakfast for him and see if there’s anything there, there must be for even drunk you to marry him.”

“I’m not going.”

“You’re going.”

“Nope.”

“Yes, and I’ll go too if you don’t, I’d love to meet my best friend’s husband.”

“You’re Not Going!” she shrieked as she chased after him.

Raven made it, dressed in a giant hoodie, with mini shorts hidden beneath it and boots. She didn’t do flipflops and her feet were too cold for sandals. Jason had been shocked when she had changed the venue and said she’d meet him there; she knew that because he sounded barely awake when she’d called. There were voices in the background, and he yelled at someone to knock something off.

Now she was here, with her hair a tangle mess, soaked too, and looking like a hobo. She was still relieved that she had a knife hidden in her boot.

Jason appeared a moment later, white button-down shirt, jeans and boots, with a sinfully handsome case of bedhead. He walked towards her and took a seat.

“Morning,” he greeted.

“Hey, sorry,” she flinched a bit when he yawned.

“Sorry for what?”

“Changing the plans,” she admitted.

“Nothing wrong with change,” he mumbled as the waitress poured him coffee. They sat in silence until she left and Raven wrapped her hands around her own.

“Can I ask you something?”

“Yes,” he nodded.

“Why didn’t you sign the papers? I mean, we’re virtual strangers, you know nothing about me, and I don’t know anything about you.”

“That’s not true,” he said softly.

“Really?”

“You love the Mets, which sucks cause I’m a Knights fan. You love animals, not a huge fan of people, you read the classics for fun and prefer Blues music and Jazz to anything else on the planet. You are amazing at the piano and you can dance as well as you kick ass. You’re loyal to a fault when you give your loyalty, and you don’t trust easily. I may not know anything about you Raven, but I know you,” he said firmly. “I feel as if I’ve known you my entire life, which is saying something.”

“I feel as if I know you too,” she relented. “But that doesn’t explain why you didn’t sign and file the damn papers.”

“Because, I happened to like being married to you,” he answered.

Her jaw just about dropped and she felt her eyes widen. “Huh?”

“Yes, shocking, I know, but I like you. I like your company, your humor, you. The month we were together was the best time of my life, and I’m saying that after all the people I’ve lived with because I’ve lived with a variety. I also am smart enough to realize getting a divorce without discussing it; even if we don’t remember the wedding, when we had discussed most the basic aspect of our marriage, didn’t seem wise. Also, I hated that I never went after you,” he admitted.

“I didn’t give you a starting point to look.”

“Raven, I’m one of the best trackers, if I had gotten the balls to chase you, I’d have found you.”

“I’ve spent a lifetime hiding Jason, you wouldn’t have found me,” she said softly.

He arched a brow and a smile came on his lips as if it was a challenge.

“I’m not joking Jason.”

“Neither am I.”

“Jason, you should sign the papers,” she sighed.

“No, I really shouldn’t.”

“You don’t understand.”

“Probably not.”

“Jason, us, this, it’s a bad idea wrapped up in a nightmare, we’re at the blissful dream point, but trust me, this will turn into a nightmare.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Because I’m me and you have no idea about me,” she said softly.

“You don’t have an idea about me, so I think we’re on even ground as husband and wife.”

“Jason.”

“We started with less, and we were pretty damn good, don’t dismiss that. And if you go I will follow you this time,” he warned.

“Now you sound like a stalker.”

“I felt like one in Sydney,” he admitted.

“Sorry about that, I…”

“You what?”

“I’m normally Jane Doe, but Garth was with me so he got them to pull my info up,” she sighed.

“And why are you normally Jane Doe?” he asked sharply.

“Like I said Jason, there’s a lot about me that you don’t know and it’d be for the best if you signed the papers and forgot all about me. It’d be best for everyone.”

“Rae… I’m not signing the papers,” he promised. “Not yet, I’m still taking my wife on a proper date.”

Raven sighed. “You’re being really stubborn about this.”

“Usually am, also, I have something for you.”

“Hm?”

He pulled the necklace out and she blinked owlishly seeing that gaudy ring on it. The giggle escaped her lips before she could stop it and she smiled as she reached over to accept it. It was a hideous, tacky, huge ring with a sapphire surrounded by beautiful emeralds. The ring was beautiful, but it was hideous and tacky in many ways too.

“I never thought I’d see this again,” she chuckled holding it. It was warm, the inscription inside startled her.

“It was yours no matter what,” he assured her. “Always yours, you didn’t have to leave it.”

“I thought you’d want it back.”

“No, but I do want to get you a more appropriate one if we stay together,” he chuckled.

“We’re not staying together, you’ll sign those papers soon.”

“No I’m not signing the papers anytime soon, we’re going to try doing what normal people do and go on a few dates and go from there.”

“Jason,” she sighed.

“No.”

“You don’t know what you’re signing up for.”

“Neither do you.”

“I gave you the out.”

“I don’t remember an out being in marriage vows, but if this doesn’t work then we’ll talk about the out; together, and we’ll do it together!” he hissed.

“You’re…”

“Rae I was upset, and furious with myself that you left, but more than that, I was upset you decided what was best for me before we could talk. We had done everything else together, but then you did that.”

“Oh,” she blinked.

“Please,” he asked with eyes closed and a heavy sigh. “I’m not the best person Rae, and I got my own issues you don’t know about either, but when we were together, it was the first time I had a partner. We were partners for a short while,” he pointed out.

“We were.”

“Then I would like us to try again and this time, if it doesn’t work, and we both talk about it, I will sign and file the papers.”

“I didn’t mean to steal your choices away from you,” she started.

“I know, and that’s part of why I stayed away, you were always so careful not to steal choices away. Despite us stealing our own choices away when we were drunk off our asses.”

She looked at the table then and he reached over to touch her hand lightly. “I’m sorry.”

“Please, don’t keep saying that.”

“I just… nothing good ever works out for me, and I didn’t want you to feel obligated to stay with me because we made a stupid, reckless, impulsive drunken mistake.”

“I agree with that, but I’m not obligated to do anything Rae, I just happen to know I like you a whole hell of a lot more than I’ve liked anyone else in my life.”

“Alcohol does that to us,” she chuckled weakly.


End file.
